Israel-Gaza war live updates: More Palestinian prisoners added to potential exchange list as pause extended

Israel has added 50 names to a list of Palestinian prisoners who may be released as part of its ongoing swap with Hamas for hostages held in Gaza. The additions are all female, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said. A four-day pause in fighting to facilitate the exchange of captives has been extended by two days, with the possibility of further extensions. Eleven hostages were released Monday in exchange for 33 prisoners, according to Qatari officials and the Red Cross, which said it returned some detainees to the West Bank about 2 a.m. Tuesday morning. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had expressed hope that two more American hostages would be released that day, “and if not today, certainly over the next couple of days.” Since Friday, 150 Palestinians, 51 Israelis and 18 foreign nationals have been released, the U.N. said, including one American, 4-year-old Abigail Edan. About eight Americans remain in Hamas’s hands, according to Kirby.

Here’s what to know

• Elon Musk met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday. The billionaire’s visit comes as he faces criticism for loosening content moderation and amplifying antisemitic tropes on X, formerly Twitter. Earlier, Israel’s communications minister said that Musk agreed to operate Starlink satellites in Gaza but only with Israel’s approval.
• “Dozens” of aid trucks reached north Gaza on Monday, the U.N. humanitarian affairs office said, after more than a month of the Strip’s north remaining largely inaccessible to relief agencies before the pause, creating a “dire humanitarian situation,” it said.
• More than 13,300 people have been killed in Gaza and 35,180 wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Thousands of people are missing or stuck under rubble after nearly two months of war, according to the ministry. At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

2:40 AM: Blinken to travel to Israel and the West Bank this week

Israel-Gaza war live updates: More Palestinian prisoners added to potential exchange list as pause extended

BRUSSELS — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make a trip to Israel and the West Bank this week, a U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans for sensitive closed-door talks.

This will be Blinken’s third trip to the region since Hamas attacked Israel in early October.

Blinken — who landed in Brussels on Monday ahead of meetings at NATO — will go onward to the Middle East, where he “will stress the need to sustain the increased flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, secure the release of all hostages, and improve protections for civilians in Gaza,” the official said.

Blinken “will discuss with partners in the region the principles he laid out in Tokyo for the future of Gaza and the need to establish an independent Palestinian state,” the official said. After his visit to Israel and the West Bank, the secretary of state will continue onward to Dubai, where he will attend the U.N. climate conference.

By: Michael Birnbaum

2:26 AM: Thin rations, heavy bombing: Israel’s hostages start sharing their stories

A photo of Ohad Munder, 9, is projected on the Tel Aviv Museum of Art following his release from captivity in Gaza on Friday along with his mother and grandmother. They were taken hostage by Hamas militants on Oct. 7.

JERUSALEM — They survived on rice and bread and slept as best they could on chairs and benches. At least one man tried to escape his captors when an Israeli airstrike caused the building he was in to collapse. One young boy kept a diary.

The stories of hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 are emerging, slowly and in fragments, as dozens of Israeli women and children, as well as foreign workers, are released from Gaza as part of a humanitarian pause in the fighting.

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By: Louisa Loveluck and Lior Soroka

2:00 AM: Israel adds 50 prisoners to list for potential release in captives exchange

Israel added 50 more people to its list of prisoners eligible for potential release in exchange for the release of additional hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

The newly added prisoners, whose names were not disclosed, are all female and between the ages of 16 and 64. Some are Israeli citizens or said to be affiliated with Hamas.

The majority of the prisoners were detained after Oct. 7, when at least 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the attack led by Hamas.

By: Andrew Jeong

2:00 AM: Gaza breathes sigh of relief as pause in fighting is extended

BEIRUT — Israel and Hamas agreed Monday to extend the humanitarian pause in Gaza by two days, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced, a further respite for the war-battered strip and a relief for the families of Israeli hostages who have yet to be released.

Hamas confirmed the agreement, which would see additional women and children released from captivity in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian women and teens held in Israelis prisons.

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By: Sarah Dadouch, Hazem Balousha, Hajar Harb and Miriam Berger